Last Saturday when we started a little Blue America contest to ask our readers to choose a House candidate to receive a Blue America PAC check for $5,000 we had no idea we were about to raise five times that amount for our 9 candidates. And yet, as we head into the final 24 hours-- contest ends tomorrow at noon (PT)-- over 900 contributors, many giving just one dollar as a form of voting, have donated over $27,000. We're overwhelmed, particularly in light of having run the competition just as Barack Obama, who has also been appealing for scarce resources from grassroots donors, had so inspired the whole nation at the end of the Democratic Convention and just as Palin and that old man on her ticket were painting a dreadful picture of four more years of economic stagnation, war and bigotry in St. Paul.

One very generous donor contributed $1,250 to the Blue America PAC itself and challenged us to raise enough more to match it and give a runner-up prize of $2,500. We've accepted that challenge, so when you go vote, stick some extra money into the Blue America box and there will be a second check tomorrow if we reach $2,500.

With the misery index (unemployment + inflation) rising to the highest point its been since May 1991, this is a time when voters will be more amenable to making sweeping changes in Congress. It's crucial that it isn't just a gaggle of business-as-usual Democratic hacks who will be as likely to serve as rubber stamps for corrupt and reactionary forces like Rahm Emanuel as the Republicans have been for Bush, Cheney, Delay and Boehner.

The 9 men and women in our competition, Sam Bennett (D-PA), Debbie Cook (D-CA), Larry Joe Doherty (D-TX), Alan Grayson (D-FL), Jared Polis (D-CO), Dennis Shulman (D-NJ), Annette Taddeo (D-FL), Russ Warner (D-CA) and Barry Welsh (D-IN)-- are all solid progressives propelled by to seek office because of principles, ideals and values that will make America a better place for working families.

There's only one place to vote: it's here at our contest page. One dollar today could reap your candidate $5,000 tomorrow. What do you have to lose?